Nightingale
by tmnt-lucy
Summary: Raph x Reader.When your uncle is mob boss and your dad is his right hand man, life can get complicated. Complicated doesn't begin to describe your life when you have to go live with your aunt, use a fake name, discover your mom was a vigilante, you decide to follow her and be a vigilante yourself, and meet four ninja turtles on your first night out.
1. Prelude

You watched the purple locks of your hair fall to the floor as you listened to the gentle drumming of the rain against the roof and windows. You were sitting in the kitchen of your fathers safe house, your older brother carefully cutting your hair as your father paced in front of you.

"What is your name?" He asked.

You state your name dryly as you roll your eyes, making your father slam his fist on the counter. Your brother and you jump as the dishes rattle under your fathers sudden blow.

"Geez dad," Mark sighed, "This isn't exactly my specialty. Give me some warning before you do that or I'm gonna accidentally chop her ear off!"

"If your sister wasn't acting like such a smart ass I wouldn't have to do that!" Your dad hissed, "Now, young lady, tell me your name!"

"Lucy Andrews." You groaned, "I'm sixteen years old and I'm moving to New York to live with my aunt because my parents died in a tragic car accident. It's totally not cause my dad's a mobster in the middle of a turf war and it has nothing to do with my uncle being the head of said mob."

"(Name)!" Your dad hissed, "I need you to be serious about this! Do you have any idea what could happen to you?!"

"I know!" You spat, trying not to move while Mark continued to cut your hair, "Do you know how many times I'm told to be careful cause I'm a girl?! Cause someone from a rival mob could mess me up just to get to you?! Why do I have to do all this and Mark doesn't?!"

"Are you really going to make me say it?" Mark asked.

You sighed in frustration as you forced the memory of your mom and twin brother away from your mind. You were fully aware of what could happen to you. On two separate occasions your brother and mom had died trying to protect you. You knew exactly what could happen to you.

"Sweetie I know you're not happy with this." Your dad said, "It's only until this all blows over. You'll be fine with your aunt."

"What was the point then?" You muttered, turning your gaze to the floor.

"Point?" You're brother and dad look at you blankly.

"I've got ten years of Ju-jitsu and boxing experience!" You snap, "What was the point of learning to fight, learning to defend myself, if you're just gonna ship me off?!"

"You also have seven years of dance training and gymnastics." You dad answered dryly, "When have you used those skills?"

"That's different!" You argued.

"I'm done." Mark said, stepping away from you and handing you a mirror.

You took the small plastic mirror and frowned at your reflection. You stared at the golden contacts that seemed to stand out more against your loosely curled purple hair that came just above your shoulders. You didn't recognize yourself looking like this.

"I just want you to be safe." Your dad said gently as he pulled you into a tight hug.

You sighed again, returning the hug. You knew he was just trying to protect you, but it still didn't change the fact that you didn't want to leave your home. It frustrated you to know it was all because of your gender.

A week had come and gone since you moved into your aunt's apartment. You paced around your new room, staring at the light green walls and framed beach photos.

"Why don't you rearrange things in here kiddo?" A voice suggested, making you jump.

"Aunt Sally!" You gasped, clutching your chest.

"Sorry Lucy." She snickered, "It's so weird calling you that. Anyways, make this room your own."

You turned your attention to the queen sized bed and looked around, wondering where to move it to.

"Can you help me move the bed?" You asked as you motioned to the corner you wanted to move it to.

"Of course!" Sally said with a smile.

As you pushed the bed across the floor your foot caught on something. When you looked down you noticed a small, loose floor board. Curious, you lifted it and discovered a narrow box.

"So that's where she hid it." Sally said with a small chuckle, "Of all the places I've looked, I don't know why I never thought to check the floor boards.

"Who hid what?" You asked as you picked the box up.

"Your mother." Sally said with a soft smile as she sat on the edge of the bed, "Before she met your father, she was a vigilante called Nightingale."

"What?!" You exclaimed as you threw the lid of the box off.

You quickly dumped the contents on the bed as you sat near your aunt. There was a simple white Venetian mask with a short beak-like nose and something that looked like two arm guards with a narrow slit that ended in two small bumps.

"What's this?" You asked as you held up the arm guards.

"Oh I remember making these." Sally said as she took them from you, "These, my dear niece, are arm mounted sling shots. You load your ammo here," She motioned to the slit, "pull it back, and release."

You watched Sally walk to the loose board and pull up a second board. There she pulled out a belt with four pouches and a small bag that seemed to be filled with some round objects. When she handed you the bag, you discovered several rubber bouncy balls.

"What the heck?" You questioned as you pulled one of the balls out.

"They may not be lethal, but they get your point across." Sally grinned.

"How come I never knew about this?" You asked, "And if mom was a vigilante then how'd she get together with dad?"

"Things can change a lot when you fall in love kiddo." Sally said as she ran her hand over your purple hair. "Your mom left this kind of life behind her once she got pregnant with Mark. You kids had enough risks what with your fathers... work. She didn't want to add to everything with her own shenanigans."

"Shenanigans?" Your raised an eye brow at the term.

"That was our code word." Sally chuckled, "Oh those were fun days. We used to spend so much time with our friends. Yoshi would train your mother while Tang Shen and I would visit." Sally sighed contently as she turned her attention to the ceiling, "We were young then though. We didn't live in Japan for long, but your mother learned so many things there."

"You lived in Japan?" You asked curiously, "When was that?!"

"It was just for a year." Sally replied, "We went there to study, but instead your mom got the idea to 'become a superhero' so she could protect people back home."

You stared at your aunt in awe. You felt as if your world had been turned upside down. There were so many things you didn't know about your mom and you had so many questions forming.

"I wonder what ever happened to those two..." Sally muttered to herself as your mind wandered.

After a moment, Sally turned her attention to you and smiled, "You know, I wouldn't tell your father if you wanted to follow in your moms original foot steps."

You stared blankly at her for a moment before speaking, "Are you serious?"

"Why not?" Sally said with a grin, "You've got the skills your mom had, more experience actually, and you're smart enough to pick your battles. Besides, I think the worse we have around here are those Purple Dragons, and you can handle one or two of them easily. Besides, maybe this will let off some of that steam you're building up."

"Huh?" You felt your cheeks heat up.

"You think I haven't noticed how aggravated you've been?" Sally teased, "Joking aside though, if you ever run into any trouble out there, you know you can call me and my partner and I will be there in no time."

You smiled at your aunt. You couldn't believe she was so willing to let you go out and do something like this. You weren't about to question her though. Excitement built in your chest as a wide smile spread across your face.

"But!" Sally stated, "I want to test you for the next couple weeks before you actually go out."

Of course there had to be a but. Though if that's all she wanted, you would gladly comply. You nodded eagerly, feeling excitement for the first time about living in New York.


	2. Chapter 1

You were so excited to go out on your first night of patrolling! That is until you bit off more than you could chew. Aunt Sally had warned you to only take on one Purple Dragon, _if_ you found one. However, when you ran into three of them trying to mug an older man, you couldn't help jumping in to save him. You thought that after training for the last month to use your sling shots you could handle the three men. As you flipped one of the men over your shoulder you were starting to wish you had listened to your aunt.

Trash cans clattered and crashed as the third man collided with them, the combined impact of them and the ground knocked him out. A small smirk was hid by the dark pink bandana you had tied under your mask. It quickly disappeared as another one of the men grabbed you, trying to pin your arm behind your back. You drove your heel into his toes, making him yelp and loosen his grip. You took the opportunity to drive your fist into his jaw before kicking him in the stomach. He stumbled back as you dodged the other man who tried to grab you.

Police sirens screamed through the air and you breathed a sigh of relief, kicking the man that had just tried to grab you. You quickly grabbed a smoke bomb from one of the pouches on your belt. With a bright flash and a large puff of black smoke filled with the men's confused voices, you ran to the nearest fire escape. You had never been so grateful for you gymnastic training as you flipped from one level to the next, the same way you would on the horizontal bars.

Once you were safe on the rooftop you glance around. Realizing you were alone you pulled the bandana around your neck and let out an exhausted sigh as you collapsed to your knees. _'How in the world could anyone do this night after night?'_ You thought to yourself, _'That couldn't have been more than ten minutes and-'_

"That was pretty good." A voice said behind you, making you jump to your feet.

You spun around, fists up as your eyes fell on four boys... dressed as turtles? You blinked for a moment, clenching your fists slightly as you wondered where they came from.

"Whoa, whoa." The blue masked one said as he put his hands up, "It's okay. We're not going to hurt you."

You hesitantly lowered your fists as you glanced from one boy to the other, noting each one had a different colored mask.

"Why are you guys dressed as turtles?" You asked.

The boys all glanced to one another with curious looks before the red masked one spoke up.  
"Why are you wearing a bird mask?"

"Point taken..." You muttered as you looked away.

"Anyways," The blue masked one spoke up, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah..." You answered hesitantly, "Why?"  
"We saw you fighting the purple dragons." He replied, "You really shouldn't be doing that miss."  
"Oh and let me guess, I should leave it to you boys?" You asked, shifting your weight as you crossed your arms.

"Well, yeah." He said, "I mean, you-"

"What? I'm a girl so I should leave fighting to the boys? Is that it?!" You growled, marching up to him.

"What? No! I-"

"Let me tell you something," You hissed, "The contents of my pants don't mean squat, got it?! I can fight just as well as any guy!"

At this point a faint blush had stained the blue masked boys cheeks as the others started snickering.

"And what's so funny?" You snapped at them as you continued, "I am so sick and tired of guys treating me like I can't do anything cause I'm a girl! Do you have any idea how infuriating that is? It's not like I'm some princess that needs saving! Who cares if I-"

The blue masked turtle gently placed a large green hand over your mouth before he continued, "I was going to say you don't have the training we have."

You felt a sudden rush of heat in your cheeks as you stepped back, "What?"

"We've spent the last fifteen years practicing ninjitsu." The purple masked boy piped up, a small gap toothed grin spreading on his face.

"Why would we think you couldn't fight cause you're a girl?" The red masked boy asked.

"Yea!" The orange masked boy joined in, "We've seen lots of girls that can totally kick butt!"

You felt the burning in your cheeks intensify as your mind raced. These guys honestly didn't think anything about you being a girl and here you had just laid into them because you had jumped to your own conclusions. Every inch of you screamed to get out of there and that's exactly what you did. Without warning, you grabbed two of your smoke bombs, throwing them on the ground as quickly as you could. With a bright flash and a larger puff of smoke, you ran to the other side of the roof, jumping onto the other fire escape as the boys confused voice filled the air.

Unfortunately, you didn't look before you leapt onto the fire escape. The platform had been littered with miscellaneous things that you tripped on. With a yelp and loud clatter, you tumbled to the next platform. you braced yourself for impact, but only bounced slightly in the air. You looked up to see your ankle had been tangled up in a long extension cord. Soon after you could see the turtle boys looking over the edge. You groaned in embarrassment as you heard one of the boys burst into laughter and another one quickly hushing him as they made their way down the fire escape.

"Are you okay?" The orange masked turtle asked as he looked at you with a grin.

"Yea," The red masked one snickered, "You should get some kinda award for that exit."  
"Raph!" The blue masked turtle hissed.

"What? I can't be the only one to think this is funny!"

"Just kill me now." You groaned, "I don't think this could be anymore embarrassing."

As if on cue, you felt your mask suddenly slip from your face. You stared wide eyed at the two turtles as your mask fell to the next platform with a loud clang. Bright blue and green eyes blinked as your whole face seemed to burn.

"Oh come on!" You hissed, quickly covering your face with your hands.

"It's not that bad, Princess." The red masked boy chuckled.

"Says you! And don't call me that." You replied as your body suddenly bobbed, making you yelp as you looked up.

"Found it!" The purple masked boy called.  
"We're going to lower you down now, okay?" The blue masked boy said, "One of you help her."

You sighed when you were finally back in your feet. The night didn't go anything like you had planned. You picked up your mask before turning your attention back to the boys. After getting a better look at them, you couldn't help being curious.

"So where'd you guy get your costumes?" You asked, "I mean, they look pretty realistic."  
"Costumes?" The boys looked at each other for a moment before looking back to you.

"We're... um, we're really turtles." The blue masked boy said.

You stared at them for a moment, blinking, "For real?"

They nodded as you looked them over once again. They were real turtles. Real, human like, turtles. The boys shifted as the thought registered in your brain.

"That's so cool!" You finally said.

The boys stared at you in shock before looking at one another. You had so many questions for them, but your phone vibrating on your hip stopped you.

 _"Where are you? reply with * if your in trouble"_ The text from Sally read.

"Sorry, sorry." You muttered as you types a quick reply telling her you were fine. "That was my aunt. She was just wondering where I was."

"It is getting pretty late." The purple masked turtle said.

"Yea it is." The blue masked boy said as he looked at his own phone.

You couldn't help smiling at the shell shaped phone, "I should be getting home. Um... T-thanks for the help and sorry about snapping earlier."

"Don't worry about it." The blue masked turtle replied.

"Maybe we should take you back to your place." The red masked turtle said, "We wouldn't want you getting hung up in any more fire escapes."

"Oh haha." You smiled, rolling your eyes, "I can manage to get home myself. Besides, I don't even know your names."

"Oh, that's right! I'm Donatello."  
"I'm Leonardo."

"Michelangelo!"

"And I'm Raphael."

All the turtles were smiling as they watched you. You smiled back at them, "I'm Lucy."

You wished you could tell them your real name, but you had to stay in hiding. Even if they were turtles, you still had to keep some secrets. The fact that they existed was one more thing you would have to keep secret, but in this case, you didn't mind staying quiet.

You tried to convince the turtles that you could get home on your own, but they insisted on taking you back to your aunt's apartment. You didn't mind though, it was nice to know you weren't the only one having to hide. After saying your goodbyes you couldn't help hoping you would be able to see them again.


End file.
